Unfortunately, there are no current commercially available VHS tapes or DVDs of Bournonville's ballets. The only commerical DVD of the RDB that is widely available is Glen Tetley's 'The Firebird', which is most definately not Bournonville! In the past I believe there were a couple of performances available on LaserDisc, but they are no longer sold. You can try searching on EBay - I've seen copies on sale there before.

Various excerpts have been (and will be) shown on Danish TV, and there are 2 - 3 minute video clips from each ballet on the RDB website: www.kgl-teater.dk .

The company has released a DVD of the Bournonville Classes, available as a set with two books (steps & music).

Anyway, I have announced these video trailers in the topic "Abdallah".

To view these clips, you have to go to the first website page which is :http://www.bournonville.com/, then click on 3rd Bournonville Festival, and finally "Mirewelts Verden".
You can choose the clip and your connexion speed.

Greetings!
For those who leave near enough to NYC, there are some video clips of RDB performances available to watch (but not rent) at the NY Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center. Access to the library is open to all, as is the free ACCESS Card, which you need to get tapes/books from the research collection.

The videos available to watch include the 1902-6 Elfelt Films, recordings of Napoli and Konservatoriet as well as excerpts from many other ballets. Most clips are from the 1950s through early 1980s, presumabley before union rules etc. made releasing tapes more problematic.

Discussion of ...equality of the sexes in August Bournonville's choreography

in Bruges / danced by Schaufuss and Lis Jeppesen
La ventana / danced by Frank Andersen, Lis Jeppesen, and the Royal Danish Ballet

Peter Schaufuss in profile. Schaufuss is seen in his dual roles as dancer and producer in various countries ; this segment also includes views of company classes at the Royal Danish Ballet and Royal Ballet.

Royal Danish Ballet, 1902-1906 [motion picture] / a joint production of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (Danmarks Radio, Historisk Archiv) and the Dance Film Archive, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York ; producers, John Mueller and Ole Brage.
Imprint c1979.

Note Produced by Danmarks Radio. Producer and director: Thomas Grimm. Narrated in Danish.
SUMMARY: Documentary film on Danish ballerina Margot Lander (1910-1961) as remembered by members of the Royal Danish Ballet and as seen in still photographs and lengthy film excerpts from Swan lake (Harald Lander's one-act version), Coppélia, and Giselle. Pianist Elvi Henriksen, dancer Dinna Bjørn, and film editor Kai Michelsen are shown working on dubbing piano accompaniment to the originally silent footage. Includes conversations with Mette Bødtcher, Henriette Muus, Niels Bjørn Larsen, Gerda Karstens, Edel Pedersen, Erik Bruhn, Hans Brenaa.

Silence is the end of our song ; Swansong [videorecording] / co-produced by Danmarks Radio and RM Arts ; produced and directed by Thomas Grimm ; choreography by Christopher Bruce.

Silence is the end of our song (c1983 ; ca. 40 min.) / titles in Danish, English and German ; narration in English ; commissioned by Danmarks Radio

narrator identified on frame as Erik Mørk [possibly Danish narrator] and in accompanying booklet as Daniel Pageon. Dance work inspired by "the struggle of the Chilean resistance against the junta which overthrew the Allende government" ; includes b&w footage from news telecasts.

Aureole (ca. 24 min.) / a Danmarks Radio production ; directed by Thomas Grimm ; choreography, Paul Taylor ; music, George Frideric Handel ; design, Curt Hviid ; danced by Rudolf Nureyev and members of the Royal Danish Ballet: Vivi Flindt, Eva Kloborg, Anne Sonnerup, Johnny Eliasen ; music played by the Radio Orchestra, conducted by Russell Harris. This recording also appears on *MGZIA 4-4014 RNC [Rudolf Nureyev], and on *MGZIC 9-172 Aureole.

Bournonville ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet company [videorecording]

Produced by ARC Videodance as part of the television series Eye on dance. Recorded on June 13, 1988 at the studios of WNYC-TV, New York. Telecast on June 23, 1988. Producers: Celia Ipiotis and Jeff Bush. Video director: Richard Sheridan. Program director: Celia Ipiotis. Technical director: Jeff Bush. Host: Celia Ipiotis.
SUMMARY: Two-part interview with four dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet. Appearing in the first half are Alexander Kølpin and Nikolaj Hübbe, who discuss various aspects of August Bournonville's ballets and the Bournonville technique. Among the topics they cover are male dancing, male-female relationships in Bournonville's ballets, the use of mime, and the challenges of performing story ballets. Kølpin recalls Hans Brenaa's coaching when he was preparing to dance the role of James in La sylphide. The second half of the program features Linda Hindberg and Heidi Ryom, who demonstrate some typical mime gestures, contrast performing in Bournonville and contemporary ballets, and compare the Bournonville and Balanchine techniques. The program is illustrated with numerous excerpts from Kirsten Ralov's staging of Napoli, with Hindberg and Arne Villumsen in the leading roles. In Esoterica balletica, Christine Spizzo and Johan Renvall of American Ballet Theatre give a further demonstration of mime gestures used in classical ballets such as Giselle, La sylphide, and The sleeping beauty.

From Stuart: My thanks too, Kate, for this super information. I dream of a time when the copyright laws enable crucially important dance performances to be readily available. I supect that this will only happen in 50 years or so when they are out of copyright.

For instance, there is a terrific BBC film of MacMillan choreographing two short works and answering questions about the process. This is, perhaps, one of the most important videos for aspiring choreographers, but it is only availably for view at the British Film Instittute and occasional screenings at the National Film Theatre, both of which are above copyright, by legislation. The curator of the festival where I saw this film said it would take 5 man years to get the permissions to make this generally available - oy vey!

I've got the RDB laser discs of Napoli and La Sylphide. They are easy to copy onto VHS and I've done so for a number of my friends. I think that performance of Napoli is probably the most wonderful thing I own...I don't think I could live without it!
I also have two videotape compilations that include the Flower Festival at Genzano pas. The good one is from a dance festival in Los Angeles - all the other dances are bad, but Villumsen and Hindberg dance Flower Festival and it is very fine. The weird one is from a compilation from the Kirov and they get it entirely wrong trying hard to make it Petipa virtuoso dancing and missing the grace and charm totally. It's not right at all, but very interesting and the tape does has some very nice things including a really delicious Pas de six from La Vivandiere by Saint Leon danced very charmingly (and with all the Kirov virtuosity) by Boris Blankov and Alla Sizova and an equally terrific Diana and Actheon Pas wonderfully danced by Tatiana Terekova.
I'd love to trade for any other Bournonville dance videos (or any other format that one can look at) out there.

As a reminder we ask that people not use these forums or the attached e-mail/private message system to initiate or conduct video/DVD trades. Copying from a commercial VHS/DVD/Laserdisc is a violation of copyright, and thus it is not an activity we can condone via the use of this board.

If you wish to trade, please make offers and contacts via private e-mail.

Apparently, 'La Sylphide' is being released on DVD (Region 2) in March. It would appear to be copied from the earlier LaserDisc release, and has Nikolaj Hübbe and others from the late 1980s or early 1990s.

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